Architect scales back Herkimer Co. jail design

HERKIMER — Last week, designers of a new Herkimer County Correctional Facility were asked by county legislators to reduce the project’s cost estimate by about $10 million.

Architects returned Friday with roughly $8 million in suggested cuts.

LaBella Associates had presented county legislators with an estimated cost of $40,584,514.

The estimate, which does not include the cost to acquire the site at the former P&C site in Herkimer, was the latest for a project in the works for more than a decade.

Several elected officials felt that price was too high, prompting County Administrator Jim Wallace and a few other legislators to meet with LaBella representatives Tuesday to brainstorm.

Architect Mark Kukuvka, representing LaBella, presented modifications during Friday’s meeting of the Legislature’s Ways and Means and Public Safety and Emergency Management committees.

"None of these cuts LaBella would prefer to make. We were asked to think outside the box," Kukuvka said. "What we didn’t do is we did not change the integrity of the perimeter, the integrity of the locks — the integrity of a secure area to contain the inmates. None of those items on this list do that."

Part of the existing design includes an administration component to house the Herkimer County Sheriff’s Office. Kukuvka’s proposal, however, cut that from the design for $4.6 million in savings.

There were about $2.6 million in additional cuts the state Commission of Corrections — which ultimately will have to sign off on — would generally agree with, Kukuvka said.

• Eliminate all floor finishes in the facility — removes tiles, seamless flooring, any carpet, etc., and leaves just the sealed concrete: $332,500.

• Replace cast-iron sanitary/storm water piping with PVC, as allowed by state code: $330,000.

• Redesign the roof (from a flat structure with tapered insulation to direct the water to the drain) to sloped steel with a uniform thickness of insulation; $268,000.

An additional $224,000 savings could exist for removing the vehicle sally port — an option, Kukuvka said, corrections commissioners have stated they would not support.

Another roughly $600,000 could be obtained, Kukuvka said, through an operational change by reducing the number of housing pods from four to three — something the commission seemed "amenable" to at a conceptual level.

The committees are next scheduled to meet July 28.

"Latex (paint) will not hold up. It will not hold up," said Legislator John Brezinski. "Save now or pay later. That’s what this story’s all about."